Living For Tomorrow
by Slytherin Of The Sith
Summary: Isabella and Paul are twins who were sent to live with their estranged father after their mother was sent to prison. The seemingly boring small town turns out to be more than they thought at first glance as they begin to figure out that there might have been something their mother had forgotten to mention. A whole lot of something. Bella and Paul are a smidge OOC. supernatural fic.
1. Chapter 1

Isabella and Paul Lahote were sitting side by side on the plane that was heading straight for Seattle Washington from Texas. Going to live in some small town called Forks, a place that apparently no one has ever even heard of...to live with a man they've never even heard too much about, much less cared to even find out anyway. They've always lived with their mom, Renee, since they were babies. She's raised them for the past 17 years, not some guy named Charlie Swan.

They were being sent to live with their father for their last year of high school and until they turned 18 years old. They didn't really have a choice...Renee was going to prison for a long time. But Bella and Paul never wanted for anything, Renee took care of them—her 'business trips' kept her away for days at a time some months, but they had food in their bellies and a big roof over their heads. And all of the shit teenagers could ever hope to have and don't need in their possessions.

Neither of them were aware of what their mother did to keep up their lavish lifestyles, they've asked once but all she really told them was that she was a keeper of a world that was not yet ready to co-exist with theirs. It was confusing but neither of them bothered to ask about it again. But now? Now the Lahote twins were sitting side by side on the plane quietly, wondering and feeling guilty, angry and sad.

Guilty because they lived such a life, grew accustomed to having nothing but the best...and it might've landed the only parent they've ever known in prison simply because she had been working a lot more and was trying to keep up with her two kids to make them happy. When in reality, they probably didn't need half of the shit they had.

Angry at her for not being a criminal in the first place, but for getting caught and leaving them stranded and alone with a man that didn't even know them nor them him. It wasn't fucking fair. They were 17 years old! Old enough to make their own decisions, right?

Sad because...well, she was their mom. Their only parent. She loved them, raised them, cherished and supported their every whim and dream. Sure they were shitheads as she loved to call them time to time because they were rough around the edges. They both played sports, both got into fist fights...both liked being outside and getting into trouble together, and also watching each other backs—just how she taught them. This new guy, the sperm donor Charlie...he could never fill her shoes. He could never be their parent.

It was far too late but no one really had a choice in the matter.

Isabella sighed heavily, and Paul chuckled dryly as he nodded in agreement to her sigh, "This is bullshit."

"I miss mom...do you think she's okay?"

Paul shrugged halfheartedly, "I guess so...I hope so. They sent her to a super-max prison...so she's safe from the other prisoners." Paul sat up a little bit more and leaned in closer to his sister to avoid any prying ears, "What did you do with the flash drive and credit card she gave you?"

Isabella smirked at her brother, "Trust me, it's safe. Mom will be home before we graduate."

A week before Renee was busted in the wee hours of the morning at a private Texas airport coming back home from a business trip...she had sat her kids down and explained a few things, but never went into explicit detail about much. Just that she would have to go away for a little while and for them not to worry but she also needed them to keep track of her business documents and all of her money, which was also their future inheritance as well. Renee was smart she encrypted the hard-drive and she was the only one with the key, and she moved all of her money into one super off shore account and kept only one card available for usage.

A singular black card with a chip on it. There was no name on it, no expiration date...and it was heavy. Neither knew how much was on it exactly but Renee instructed them to use when they wanted to, but to use it wisely. As in, _make sure no one is watching you when you do. _The DA's office wouldn't be able to keep Renee for long if they couldn't find where the paper trail ended. And they couldn't go after the twins...they tried but Renee raised them up to be responsible and loyal.

Paul, fully trusting his sister, nodded and left it at that.

* * *

Chief Swan had been waiting at the terminal for them wearing his uniform and standing out like a sore thumb, he was the first person the twins spotted when they came out of the terminal. They'd been aware of the mans occupation prior to them leaving Texas (the irony, right?) and had a picture of him, so they knew exactly who we was. And given that he was looking directly at them, he knew who they were too. And he didn't seem all that much impressed, not that it bothered either teen.

It wasn't so much as Bella who Charlie was frowning at but at Paul...Paul who had a quarter sleeve tattoo on his left arm and a full sleeve on his right all the way down to his wrist. It was what he wanted for his 17th birthday and of course, being 17 that meant a parent had to accompany him for all the visits at the tattoo shop. For Bella, all she wanted was a car. The very same car that was being shipped to Charlie's address in the next 24 hours. Whether he was aware of it or not, Bella didn't care.

When it became awkwardly apparent that neither Charlie or Paul were going to back down from their macho stare down, Bella sighed and rolled her eyes as she nudged her brother, making him grunt and back down..._for now. _

"You're Renee's kids alright." Charlie finally said, shaking his head and ignoring the glares he got for it, "Grab your stuff, and let's go. It's a long drive back to town and it's supposed to storm all day."

_Great. _

They followed after the man to go and get their luggage. Once they were outside they saw the dark storm clouds rolling in, and both of them couldn't help but miss those bright, clear Texas skies with the white clouds and unforgiving sun. Now, it was just dark sky, dark clouds, no sun.

"This is fucking depressing." Bella grunted, throwing her duffel bag full of clothes in the trunk of Charlie's police Jeep next to Paul's three duffel bags (Bella had the rest of her belongings stuffed in the trunk of her car and in the backseat.

"Hey! Watch your mouth," Charlie closed the trunk and settled them both with what he considered a stern look—their mom did it better, _way _better, "I don't know what the hell let you two get up to but none of that is gonna fly with me, you got that?"

Isabella smirked and raised her hands in surrender, "Sure, whatever. Sorry."

Paul grunted but nodded, "Yeah, man."

Charlie didn't like their attitudes but there was a time and a place, and now wasn't either. He accepted their responses and got in the Jeep. Paul, refusing to sit up front, opted for sitting in back and Bella joined him. If Charlie was bothered by the fact that neither of his estranged children wanted to sit up front with him, he didn't show it. Hell, he didn't show much of anything in the next 15 minutes of them driving in silence. The silence was a little tense and the music playing on the radio wasn't helping much either.

When the highway they were on finally narrowed into a two lane highway and the trees were thicker and closer together, Charlie switched off the radio and the twins tensed up knowing that a lecture was coming. One they absolutely did not want to hear, least of all from this man.

"Few ground rules before we get to the house. They told us about your...track records at school, both the good and the bad and I'm gonna tell you both this now. Fighting is not tolerated in the Swan household, you understand? My wife and I have a good reputation going and we don't need or want either of your spitting on it. We don't allow our own kids to do it, and we damn sure aren't going to let you. Got it?"

Bella rolled her eyes, and scoffed quietly as Paul dropped his head back on the headrest in utter despair, "We got it. No defending ourselves if someone starts shit. Oops, I mean trouble." Paul snickered next to her and Bella met Charlie's warning glare in the mirror with a raised eyebrow.

"And another thing...you're both going to get jobs."

"What?!" "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Both of you are getting jobs. I don't know what nonsense Renee had you both used to but with me? You're gonna work and you're gonna earn your keep. We'll go over the curfew and house rules at dinner."

Paul and Bella shared a long agonizing look. They knew they were going to hate this, but _damn._ They had so much that they wanted to say to each other, but with Charlie well within hearing range they couldn't so the rest of the car ride was in awkward, tense silence. By the time they got to Charlie's 2 story home, the storm was beginning to catch up with them.

"Uh, nice place." Bella commented a little awkwardly, shutting the front door behind her. And it was nice, just...not what she was used to. She was used to open, and clutter free. A multi-million Texas house with freshly cut solid green grass, and an evenly lined up fence with a pristine concrete drive way. Their house had pictures of their little family every where but it was organized and tasteful.

Charlie just grunted in reply and Bella rolled her eyes, _whatever_. "Sue?! We're home!"

"Okay!" Someone called out from the kitchen before appearing around the corner. Paul and Bella thought the exact same thing when they saw her...she looked stern and that she didn't take any shit, and that she wasn't going to put up with theirs either. _Damn._ This _is _hell. She looked like the natives that lived a little south of the town that Bella had read up on when she researched this none existent place. Her long dark hair framed her face perfectly and actually reinforced that stern look she had going on.

"Oh wow," Sue breathed, smiling wide at the twins as she came to stand next to Charlie, "Welcome to Forks, you two."

"Uh, thank you." Paul mumbled, wishing the woman would stop looking at them so intently, like she was looking for something but wasn't quite finding it. It made him uncomfortable.

Charlie cleared his throat, "Sue, this is Isabella and Paul. Twins, this is my wife Sue. You'll mind her, you hear?"

"I think they get it, honey," Sue cut in gently, knowing how stressed her husband has been in the past week about this entire situation but she knew that while he was stressed, Isabella and Paul had to have it 10 times worse. They just lost their home, their culture and the only parent they've ever known. Sue ignored Charlie's grunt and smiled at the two teenagers that were fidgeting in front of her, "Leah and Seth are upstairs studying, you'll get to meet them later. But for now let's get you two settled...follow me, please."

Sue led them past the living room, towards the flight of stairs with Charlie behind them, helping Paul with his luggage. But already Bella felt stuffed inside of the house. 4 people living in this house was enough, but now 6? It was definitely pushing it.

"Unfortunately, we only have 4 bedrooms..." Sue started, and Bella groaned internally, _here we go..._ "Leah and Seth have their own rooms, and Charlie and I have mine...the only other room we have left to offer is the guest room. So you two will have to share, or one of you will have to sleep on the couch downstairs but we got a bunk bed set over the weekend. The bottom is a Queen and the top is a twin—"

"I call the bottom." Bella said, interrupting Sue as she pushed her way into the room and dropped her single duffel bag and backpack on the bed, and smirked at her brother who just glared at her but he really didn't mind it either way.

"Right well," Charlie set Paul's bags, "We'll let you two get settled...you two really okay with sharing a room then?"

"It's not like you're giving us much of a choice, Charlie." Bella shot back, meeting his gaze with a raised eyebrow.

Before Charlie could say anything, Sue stepped in with a smile, "We'll leave you two alone to unpack...new sheets are in the closet on the top shelf. Dinner will be ready in an hour, okay? If you need anything, Leah and Seth are just down the hall."

Bella sighed but nodded while Paul just sat at the compute desk, testing out the squeaky chair. It was clearly overused and deserved to be trashed. ASAP. Finally when the door closed, leaving just the two of them in the room, Paul groaned loudly.

"Fuck man! This is bullshit."

Bella went to the closet and pulled out the package of sheets that Sue was talking about and groaned..._cotton. _Seriously? Yes she was spoiled but damn it... "We definitely have to get out of here... or break mom out or something..."

"Who even shares a room anymore?" Paul said, staring up at ceiling as he spun around in the chair.

Bella began unpacking the sheets to put on the bed, listening to her brother complain but not really offering much on a comment. There wasn't really much she could say to cheer him up when she was feeling the exact same way. The most they could do was ride out the storm the best that they could.

"Well, at least we have the whole weekend to get our shit together before school on Monday."

Paul shrugged, not really seeing the silver lining, "Because that makes everything better."

"It doesn't but you know what will? Getting off your ass and helping me unpack...we're in this together, Paul. You're not the only one suffering, alright?"

Her older brother finally got up and started helping with his own luggage, and helping his sister organize their new room the best that they could, keeping in mind that the rest of Bella's stuff was coming Saturday morning. Their room wasn't that big, not for both of them to be living in it but they were going to make it work. They didn't have much of a choice anymore.

They had been working quietly side by side making their room as comfortable as possible, even breaking a little bit of a sweat and time had slipped by when they heard Sue call from downstairs;

"KIDS! Dinner time!"

Bella and Paul heard room doors opening down the hall, and two sets of loud footsteps moving down the hallway, past their closed door. No one bothering to even knock on their door, but really why would they? The neighbors probably heard Sue's dinner call.

"I'm not hungry. Can you just tell them I fell asleep or something?"

"Don't rock the boat, Bella. Just 10 minutes?" Paul didn't want to go down there alone, he didn't do well with awkward and being put on the spot. He had a quick temper and he didn't want to blow up because he was uncomfortable...it's happened before and no one came out the winner of that little incident.

Bella scoffed at her brothers audacity when he's been just that since meeting Charlie, "Fine...I hope she didn't make stew." she made a face at the idea and Paul smirked.

"It's wet and cold here, small town...small house...20 bucks she made stew." he held out his hand and Bella rolled her eyes but took the bet anyway, it was probably a fools bet too. She followed him out of the room, and down the stairs..._show time._

* * *

**It's been a while since I've written anything, lol, so please be kind. I had been watching the movie 'Stick It' and I was like Missy Peregrym would've been the perfect Bella. Yeah, I still think the casting for her was wrong. *Shrug* Anyway, hope you all enjoyed so far.**

**Peace.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I own nothing but my own ideas.**

* * *

Bella did in fact lose her 20 dollar bet to Paul but they both knew that before they shook on it and made it official. Sue made a large pot of stew and even if it all didn't get eaten tonight at dinner, which it probably won't, there was going to be leftovers for the week.

Bella and Paul were the last ones to come downstairs and it wasn't very hard for them to find the kitchen and the connecting dining room, as they sat down they noticed that while there were bowls placed in front of their designated chairs, the bowls were empty while everyone else's were filled up to point they were nearly overflowing.

Sue smiled at the two warmly, "I didn't know how hungry either you would be tonight, or if you were vegetarian. Just help yourselves."

"Oh, um, thanks Sue..." Bella said, smiling back at the woman politely. The dinner table was set up pretty nicely, if not a little overcrowded. Sue not only made stew but she made cornbread and a surprisingly beautifully decorated salad. Who eats salad and a stew was beyond Bella, but Paul was helping himself to all of the food including the salad while Bella just opted for the salad and popped a baby tomato in her mouth.

Everyone was eating quietly, well except Sue and Charlie who were seated at the head of either table and were discussing their day and plans for the weekend. Bella took the time to take in Seth and Leah. Seth had this adorable puppy like thing going for him, and Bella wouldn't be surprised if he actually did act like a puppy and made it hard for anyone to actually hate the kid. He looked so young and innocent...too bad they might corrupt him later on.

And well, Leah, she looked stern...like her mother. They were practically twins, and Bella was positive there was a 50/50 chance they would actually get along. Not because she simply thought it, but the subtle hard analyzing looks she was getting from the other teenager gave it away.

"It's Isabella right?"

Bella blinked and looked at Seth who was blushing a little bit, eyes shifting between her and Paul, but she was pretty sure she looked less intimidating than her brother. Though not by much.

"Yes, or Bella is fine. Either way. What's up?" if they were going to be stuck in hell for a year, she wasn't going to make things worse for herself by rocking the boat...well, rocking the boat at home at least.

Seth shrugged, relaxing a little bit, "Nice to officially meet you, I'm Seth and this is my sister Leah."

"I've gathered." Bella stated dryly, and Paul snorted next to her, but Bella immediately felt bad when she saw Seth drop his gaze and blush even more, _damn this kid...I just met him and I'm already going soft for him. _"So, what grade are you in Seth?"

"Oh, I'm a sophomore this year. And Leah's a senior, like you guys."

"If I wanted them to know my business, I would've told them." Leah hissed under her breath but loud enough for everyone to hear and Charlie cleared his throat, clearly telling Leah to cool it.

"Because we weren't going to figure that out eventually," Paul stated but stopped short when Bella elbowed him in the ribs gently.

Sue cleared her throat, smiling, "Are you guys excited to start the last year of high school?"

"Not really," Paul shrugged, not giving much away and Bella just remained silent choosing not to comment, their mom just went to prison...and she's asking if they're excited for stupid school? Paul looked towards Seth before the silence could become uncomfortable, "You play sports?"

Seth quickly shook his head, "Nah, I'm more into video games and hanging down by the beach with the local La Push guys. The sports team at Forks is pretty cool though, we have a hockey team here for both guys and girls, it's pretty awesome."

"Sounds cool," Bella contemplated checking out the athletic teams, it would do her mom proud if she continued up on her sports that she worked so hard for...Renee wouldn't want them to quit everything they loved because of her.

"You two got very lucky that you got here when you did. The start of a new school year is Monday and I know jumping right into a semester isn't easy. This weekend I plan on taking Leah and Seth shopping, so it's good that you're here now and not later so I can take you both too before everything gets too busy around here. Was there any-"

"What?" Paul cut in rudely, dropping his fork, "Lucky?"

"Oh..." Charlie winced at Sue's words, even though she didn't realize the severity of her words until it was too late.

_Lucky? We got __**lucky? **_Bella scoffed, rolling her eyes at Sue, "Wow, well I'm really glad that our mom decided to go to prison at an opportune time for you, Sue. Real draw of the luck there. Maybe we will all get lucky again and she'll get death row _after _our graduation too so you don't have to plan around it with your busy schedule because there's so much to fucking do, in this middle of nowhere town!"

"Hey!" Charlie snapped but Isabella wasn't hearing none of it as she pushed her chair back, nearly tipping it over and left the kitchen with Paul right on her heels, refusing to be left alone but he did take a piece of cornbread with him. He knew that his sister had been calm in the past three weeks after their mom was taken away. Nothing but calm and the voice of reason to his own furious temper. But Paul knew his sister, he knew her temper was just as horrible as his but her fuse burned slower.

It had only been a matter of time before she blew up over something little.

Bella plopped back on her bed while Paul closed and locked the door. She stared up at the bottom of his bunk and sighed loudly...she knew that Sue didn't mean the words so callously but Bella was exhausted, she was scared and she was angry at everyone and everything. She felt Paul sit down by her legs and she sighed again.

"I blew up."

"Yeah, finally." He laughed, handing over half eaten cornbread but Bella wasn't in the mood to eat anymore. "Feelin' better?"

"Not really, no. I feel like an asshole."

"You gonna apologize?"

"I don't know...no? I just...ugh...I wanna go back to Texas, I miss mom, I miss our house and our horses and cows and that random little chicken that lived around the house...and the ducks...I know we can't ever go back to how things were but it's hard," Isabella hated how her voice cracked and how the area around her eyes and nose burned when her vision got blurry before the first few tears rolled down. "I don't know how to handle this, Paul."

Paul swallowed thickly, reaching over and took his sisters hand tightly, "We're in this together...you don't have to handle it alone. Y'know I always have your back, right?"

"I love you Paul."

"Who doesn't though?" he wiggled his eyebrows at his sister, and Bella promptly kicked him off her bed.

* * *

Bella was up early in the morning, and was fresh and dressed before 8 A.M. rolled around. She left her slumbering brother in their room. She managed to sneak down the stairs without making much of a noise, but she didn't really account for Charlie to be awake but she should've known better. The man was the Chief of Police, of course he was going to be awake.

Bella paused in the doorway of the kitchen as Charlie looked up from adjusting his belt. After a moment, he made a noise that sounded like a grunt, "Mornin'."

"Morning." Bella said back after a slight hesitation. After her explosion at dinner last night, she was expecting him to fuss at her or something but when it was clear that he wasn't going to bring it up, she decided that she wasn't going to either. "Uh, I'm gonna be outside. I'm expecting a...delivery."

Before Charlie could even ask, they both heard a loud hiss outside and a door closing rather loudly. Bella rushed to the front door with Charlie right behind her, and the sight that greeted them brought a wide smile to Bella's face. One that hasn't been seen since her mother went to prison.

"You Isabella Lahote?" the guy with the clipboard asked tiredly, coming down the driveway.

"Yeah, that's me." Bella nodded, eyes still glued to the vehicle sitting on the back of the transport truck. Her baby...her birthday present...her beast. While Paul wanted a bunch of tattoos for his birthday, Isabella wanted a car. A very specific car and Renee put a shit ton of stipulations around it too, birthday be damned. But Bella was determined, and she got it in the end.

Slowly being lowered by the other guy, was a blood red all carbon fiber Dodge Challenger Demon. The wheels were black as they could be along with the tinted windows, and it was straight off the showcase. One of a kind in it's fierceness. Behind her, Charlie whistled and whispered 'damn'.

"I need you to sign for it." Bella took the clip board and quickly signed for it and took both key fobs from the man. "Thank you."

He nodded and left to go help his partner. Charlie came to stand next to Bella, "That's one hell of a ride you got there."

"Mom got it for my 17th birthday."

Charlie frowned slightly, "Isn't that a little too...much for you? I mean...that's not a cheap car."

Bella smirked, eyes still glued to her beast, "4.0 GPA all year, Charlie. I earned it. Mom doesn't give away stuff for free. She said it makes us value stuff more if we worked for it. And if we didn't work for it, then we didn't want it bad enough."

Charlie seemed a little surprised that Renee wasn't spoiling them how he thought she was by just getting them whatever they wanted just because she could afford to do it. There was no doubt in his mind that she _was _indeed spoiling them but at least she was making them see value in it...somehow.

"How much are the car notes and insurance?"

Bella shrugged, "It's paid in full. And mom knows someone...insurance isn't a problem. I'm a good driver."

Charlie grunted, and sipped his coffee, "Didn't take you for a gear-head...Paul maybe."

"He's more into bikes."

"Well, look here...just because I'm the Chief around here doesn't give you leniency. I, or any of my Deputies, catch that thing tearing up my streets...your ass is grass, got it?"

"Got it." Bella smirked. _You, or your slow Deputies, won't catch me. _Charlie seemed content with that answer and turned to go back in the house, and narrowly avoided being run over by 15 year old Seth who still had bedhead and was barefoot.

"Is that _yours_, Bella?! _Holy crap!" _

Charlie shook his head and closed the door behind him.

* * *

That's how Paul, Leah and Sue found Bella and Seth an hour and a half later in the garage with the hood of Bella's demon popped up. For nearly two hours, Bella had been showing Seth the specs of her car...what she added to it (herself, that is) what it was for and why. The younger teen was a baby gear head and Bella fully intended on converting him into a pro by the end of the year...she saw potential in his eager brown eyes and she was going to feed his curiosity.

It gave her something to do to keep her mind off of her homesickness and the stress of adapting to such extreme changes in very little time.

Bella's hands were covered in light grease and oil stains, as were Seth's not that either minded. Paul wasn't very much into cars like his sister, bikes being more his speed, and he was glad that she quickly found someone that could match her passion when it came to cars and she'd get lost in them for hours if not monitored closely. He knew she had been depressed lately even though she'd never really admit it.

So if corrupting the kid to the dark side gave her a good distraction, he wasn't going to let his slight jealously get in the way of his sisters happiness. No matter how small it was.

"So this is where you two have been hiding for the past two hours." Sue commented while Leah just scowled and mentally called her brother a traitor, and conveyed the message through eye contact that made Seth freeze up momentarily. "Charlie said you two were somewhere outside, probably joyriding."

Bella put down the socket wrench and wiped her hands on her already ruined shirt. She felt a little jittery when she saw Sue, knowing that she should apologize but she just couldn't bring herself to do so. Apologizing was never her strongest suit. She decided that she wasn't...she'd just be a little less..hostile. Or try to be.

Yeah. That.

Seth smiled at his mom, "Bella's gonna help me with shop class this year! Uh, do you mind if I hang with Bella today instead of shopping? Please?"

"Seth..."

"Please, c'mon I already have my supplies I just need a few shirts but I don't need them that bad."

Sue glanced at Isabella who was leaning up against the drivers side of her car looking on blankly, but she just wasn't so sure but she didn't want to squash Seth's excitement. The boys he hung out with at La Push were into cars too but Seth didn't get to see them nearly as much anymore since she and Charlie got married and she and her two kids moved further into town and off the native land.

Thankfully, Sue wasn't forced to be the bad guy when Bella spoke up.

"Maybe next time, Seth. Paul and I are going to town to do our own school shopping."

"And maybe find a job." Paul added, scoffing slightly. "Trust me, man, I know my sister...she's not done with the demon. You'll have plenty of time to help her make it nasty." Paul pretended to be oblivious to Sue's slight flinch at his poor wording and Seth's growing smile despite his disappointment.

"Well...thanks anyway, Bella. See ya at dinner then."

"Oh, right...since it's Saturday, we usually have dinner in town." Sue added with a polite but warm smile, "It's a little tradition of we like to keep every once in a while...if you two would like to join us?"

"Uh..."

Paul stepped in before his sister could get them in a situation neither really wanted to be in, "We'll call."

Leah glared at the two when her mom and Seth's faces fell a little with disappointment, "If you're not gonna show up then say so, asshats."

"Leah!" Sue called after her daughter, but the older girl was already storming back into the house. Seth rubbed the back of his neck as he followed after his sister in hopes to get her to chill out and Sue turned and smiled at Bella and Paul apologetically, "Just make sure you two are home before 10 tonight."

"Sure." "No promises."

When they were alone in the garage, Paul and Bella shared a light laugh. "Well that was interesting...but job hunting, seriously? You don't seriously think I'm going to get a job...do you?"

Paul shrugged, smirking, "Why not, sis? It could be fun...maybe get us out of the house. Who knows...maybe help us get around this bullshit curfew too."

Bella looked over at her brother strangely, assessing him, "You've been plotting."

"Yup. Stayed up late googling...there's a gym 10 miles out, privately owned and open 24 hours. Two open part time positions."

"That's..." Bella raised an eyebrow, "Oddly convenient. What are the perks?"

"Besides a good 10 bucks an hour? A free gym membership," Paul shrugged, "But I mean if that doesn't cut it, there's a bookstore that's hiring part time and the local car shop is hiring but it doesn't pay the best. Luckily for us...this is a small shitty town. Walking and asking for a job _is _your application."

"Not surprising." Bella pushed off her car and shut the hood, "I'll go get changed then."

* * *

The demon rumbled and growled through town catching the attention of everyone who had eyes and ears until they were both heading out town going 30 miles over the limit. Bella wasn't worried about losing traction on the road despite the drizzle and how slick the roads looked, she had the best tires on the after market.

They got to the gym in no time and were currently sitting in the parking lot of Olympic Fitness. The building wasn't all that big but it was big enough. Bella parked next to a very nice, very modern snow white BMW. It was a far cry from the old age cars that as literally littering the streets of Forks. Paul scoffed and shook his head.

Bella rolled her eyes at her brother and followed him inside of the gym. It was like any other typical gym, a lot more cleaner and modern than either of them were expecting but nice like. Paul mumbled something about checking out the free weights while Bella opted just going to the empty front desk that was near the front doors and overlooked the entire gym, and the parking lot.

There weren't a lot of people there working out, maybe some kids her age that probably went to Forks High and older people but other than the atmosphere was very—

"Good afternoon, dear, may I help you?"

Bella turned around and found herself staring into the oddest pair of eyes she's ever seen in her entire life. They were brown, _I think, _but like a liquid gold kind of brown. The kind of brown that would burn into someone's soul sort of brown...but they were warm, like honey...the authentic thick kind of honey. Not the Walmart brand. They belonged to a woman who was an inch or two taller than her own 5'6'', and considerably older than Bella. She gave off this sweet and motherly aura, though Bella's instincts were telling her to be very cautious around this woman.

"Erm...I think so. Are you hiring?"

The woman blinked and smiled brightly, "As of two days ago, yes, we currently have two openings available. Why don't we step into my office so that we may talk?"

"Uh..." Bella looked over her shoulder for her brother but Paul was too busy chatting up some chick that was hanging off of his every word then back to the beautiful woman who was still smiling and looking at her. A bit creepy, but Bella would roll with it. "Sure. I'm Isabella Lahote, by the way."

The woman reached out and shook Bella's hand. Despite her paleness, her hand was very much warm. "Esme Cullen."

* * *

_Elsewhere on the other side of the country..._

Renee Lahote was sitting in a mandatory anger management class with 10 other female inmates, handcuffed by her wrists and ankles wearing the most unflattering orange jumpsuit with white slip on shoes. She was mildly surprised that they didn't find it necessary to put a muzzle on her.

The therapist looked over the group before her eyes settled on Renee. "Lahote...you haven't said a word since you've been here. Anything you'd like to add?"

"I'm on death row, not much to say."

"I've read your file, Lahote. What you've done...what you're capable of, how...imaginative you are. I'm sure you have plenty to say."

Renee hated this woman. Everything about her from her condescending smile and tone to her smug posture. It was a wonder no one tried to kill her yet. Perhaps they did...that's why they had everyone shackled like Fort Knox around the woman during an anger management session.

Renee thought back to the most recent letter she'd received from a trusted friend on the outside. The friend who was keeping an eye on the two of the most important people in her life. Renee was aware that they were coming of age very soon and that no one could help either of them but her. So even though she was set to be executed...it just wasn't really an option. Not until she knew Isabella and Paul would be okay without her.

"I don't have anything to say because I'm not yet done on this planet. My kids still need me, and until they don't...I will not be going anywhere."

The doctor scoffed, rolling her eyes slightly while a few other inmates chuckled along with the guards that were always in the room, "Your kids don't need you, Renee. You've done enough to them already...how can you sit there and say that, knowing that there was piles and piles and _piles _of human ashes in your basement...not to mention the bodies you left behind all over the world. Spare those poor kids."

"Those weren't human ashes."

Renee sighed heavily and sat back in her chair, and smiled. Though it wasn't a smile that reached her cold greenish blue eyes, it was a secretive one that made everyone in the room uncomfortable and she refused to elaborate further. She'd already said too much. Renee tuned out the doctor's voice and thought back to the letter that Victoria had sent to her.

Her babies were fine...for now, despite Charlie's less than...hospitable welcoming. It wasn't Renee's first choice to send them with him...but it was safer...normal. She wanted them to have that for as long as they possibly could.

* * *

**Thanks for the favs and follows. I know it's a slow start, might be a little boring at first but eh...most stories have a slow start too, I guess. ** ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

**Peace.**


	3. Chapter 3

Bella sat in the surprisingly cozy chair that was in Esme's office while the woman sat in her own chair behind her desk. Bella's never been in a job interview before but she was fairly positive that this was not how they typically went.

"How are you liking Forks so far, dear?"

"Uh...it's cold and wet. Far cry from Texas but it's okay _I guess."_

"If you don't mind me asking, but why did you and your brother move here?"

Bella exhaled heavily, feeling a tad bit uncomfortable. It was clear that the news of the _exact _reason Chief Swan's long lost kids suddenly came back to live with him...or maybe they did and they were being surprisingly polite about it. For now. Isabella knew first hand how cruel high school could be, she hasn't participated in the bullying but she's seen it more times than she could care to count. And she's gotten into more fist fights trying to defend some freshman from getting their face smashed into some metal lockers and losing a few teeth on their first day of school.

"Personal reasons really, like a fresh start."

Esme smiled at her sweetly nodding as she accepted that answer, "Fair enough, dear. I understand that all too well."

"Do you?"

A flicker of sadness flashed through the Esme's eyes but it went away so quickly Bella was sure she probably just imagined it, "Oh yes. Life is beautiful but it can also be very cruel when you least expect it."

_Understatement of the year, _Bella thought grimly, "Yeah, well..." she trailed off, not knowing how to follow up on that statement but she didn't want them to fall into an awkward silence, thankfully Esme picked up the slack from the teenager who was obviously holding in more than she was letting on.

"Why do you want to work here, Isabella?"

"Uh," Isabella blink, attempting to gather her thoughts...this interview was beyond weird, "It's sort of my thing right now...athletics. I played a lot of sports in Texas and I know a few things about the equipment here...figured I could use my know how to help people work out better."

"Would you be comfortable handling cash?"

"Sure, I'm good at math."

"What about an irate member? Would you be able to handle that if I'm not here?"

Isabella shrugged, "I don't have a lot of work experience but I have 101 experience dealing with bullies, Mrs. Cullen."

Esme raised an eyebrow at that and proceeded to ask Bella a few more questions for the next 10 minutes or so before told Isabella that she had the job on the spot and that Esme would be more than willing to work with her school schedule. And that she would be calling her soon with more details when she was put into the employee log. Bella was so shocked that she got hired on the spot (a first since it was her first job) that she forgot to ask about her brother.

When she and the owner came back to the front desk, Paul was standing there leaning up against the counter like he owned the place. He looked between Esme and his sister mildly suspicious.

"We employed or what?"

"_I'm_ employed." Bella smirked as she walked past Paul, "Good luck. I'll be waiting outside."

Paul mumbled something under his breath but Bella paid him no mind, knowing that her twin was just talking his usual shit.

At least the drizzling outside had stopped, and it was just slick on the ground, the air was wet and cold. It kind of reminded her of winter in Texas. The sort of winter that lasted all but a day in Texas but she was positive she'd have to force herself to get used to this. She walked over to her car and leaned against the passengers side and pulled out her cellphone.

Bella stared down at the picture the she, Paul and her mom took before her last..._work trip _and getting arrested. They had went to the beach, a spur of the moment mini vacation day. It had been random but it was fun. Even went to the amusement park that was on the pier and had a late dinner.

Her brief trip down memory was interrupted but not by anything in particular but more like a feeling. Like she was being watched, and the goosebumps that raised on her arms and the hairs raised on the back of her neck only confirmed the fact. The 17 year old slowly put away her phone as casually as she could and adjusted her position on her car but her eyes were darting left and right. Looking for anything out of place but she was so new to the area, it could've been anything.

"Hm," Bella spotted two old ladies across the lot chatting away and neither of them were paying her any mind. Their mother always told them to never ignore their gut and Bella's gut was telling her to _run. _She pushed off her car, fully intending to go back inside and wait for her brother...but stopped short as he was coming out, smirking cockily but that quickly fell when he saw the alarmed look on his sisters face and ran over.

"Bell? What's wrong?"

Bella shook her head, still looking around warily despite the presence of someone familiar calming her greatly, "I just had a feeling...you know the ones I used to get a few years ago before mom started training us with—"

"Yeah, yeah...I remember, " Paul cut in, a scowl set into his handsome features as he too sensed something off around them but whatever it had been was long gone now, "I'm not seeing shit but trees and too much green."

"I know." Bella sighed heavily, then looked at him with a small smile, "Did you get it? The job I mean?"

"Hell yeah, hired me on the spot." his smirk was back and Bella matched it perfectly.

"She hired me first though."

* * *

The Lahote twins spent the rest of their morning and afternoon doing a little bit of school shopping on their own and buying appropriate clothing for living in Forks. By the time they were finished and had unpacked everything in their shared room at Charlie's house, they were both just sitting side by side in the living room with a bottle of water each and sharing a family bag of chips.

Paul finally stopped channel surfing and settled on some random cartoon, "I'm getting kinda hungry...we meeting these losers at the diner or what?"

Bella shrugged, "You can but you're not taking my car."

"Yeah, yeah...no one drives the beast except you, I know." Paul grunted, rolling his eyes. "But I'm still freakin' hungry."

"Do you wanna go to the diner?"

"Not really, no?"

"I don't think there's much in town to eat really, maybe we can drive to Port Angeles? It's only 4...you in?"

Paul opened his mouth to answer but he was cut off by the door bell chiming and Bella looked at her brother in total confusion when he suddenly starting grinning like an idiot and jumped off of the sofa and practically ran to the front door. Bella rolled her eyes and followed after her brother, suspecting why he was suddenly so goddamn giddy.

And her suspicions were confirmed when she saw a girl about their age standing in the door way...she wasn't anything of note but it was the typical girl that Paul often went after. She was pretty enough and the way she dressed told Bella that the girl was part of the popular clique at Forks High...but how popular could one actually get in Forks was beyond her.

Paul threw an arm over the girls shoulder and winked at his sister over the girls head, "Bell, I'm just gonna catch dinner with my new friend, don't wait up, 'Kay?"

"Don't worry, Bell. I won't have him out too late." Jessica smiled at Bella but it was more like a smirk and it was a little too cocky for Bella's likes, _this girl was trying to establish territory. Already? Wow. Does she not know he's my brother? _"I'm Jessica Stanley."

Bella scoffed, rolling her eyes as she came closer to the door, "It's Isabella, and Paul?"

"Yeah sis?"

"Don't ever introduce me to any of your booty calls ever again. They get sadder and sadder, but I'm really disappointed with this one." _skanks._

"Excuse me, bit—" Jessica took offense to that and tried to step up to Bella but Paul held her back. Not because he didn't think his sister couldn't hold her own—he knew she could, and he knew she would put Jessica 10 feet under in 3 seconds flat. No, he held Jessica back to avoid having to deal with a crying girl with a broken nose because his twin decided to slam the door in their faces.

"Jeez, what's her problem?"

Paul shrugged as he led Jessica away from the front door, "She's not a big people person. Don't worry about her baby, it's just me and you tonight, right?"

"I know a pretty good diner in town that has some good burgers and shakes?"

"Uh," Paul hesitated thinking that he would rather not be seen by Charlie and his family...or in public with this chick more than he actually had to. Because his sister wasn't wrong...this was just a booty call to take the edge off his nerves. And the he wanted was this chick thinking they were going on a date or something. "How about we just go to McDonald's, I'll pay, and go to your place?"

Jessica looked like she was about to insist on the diner but Paul pulled her closer and opened the drivers side door to her car, and offered her his trademark bad-boy smirk and it worked. _Like always. _"Okay yeah, sure. No problem, my parents don't get home 'til later anyway."

"Sounds good, girl."

* * *

Bella plopped heavily back down on the sofa and continued munching on her bag of chips and watching whatever was playing on the TV. She didn't have a problem with her brothers..._bad habits_, she was used to them. It amused her greatly to piss them off though...she just hoped that whatever woman that gets stuck with Paul is strong because brother or not...he's an asshole.

After 30 minutes of sitting there bored out of her mind, Bella cleaned up her mess and left the house once again. She was going to Port Angeles anyway. She wasn't even sure what the hell was there, she'd probably have a better time in Seattle but she was too lazy to actually make that drive today.

On her way out of town, Bella stopped at a gas station for gas and snacks.

"You must be Chief Swans kid...one of 'em at least."

Bella looked to the left to see who the gruff voice belonged to and saw some scruffy looking man with long black hair with some silver here and there that was pulled into a ponytail topped off with a black cowboy hat. He was filling up his own vehicle, a true beast in Bella's opinion. It was a rusty old red Chevy truck.

Bella smiled at him politely but it was a little forced...there was something about him that made her a little bit uncomfortable. _A lot _uncomfortable, really. "Yep." she didn't know what else to say to the man.

"You're beautiful, just like your mother if my memory serves correct."

"Uh, thanks I guess." Bella refrained from rolling her eyes and mentally willed the gas pump to pump faster but she had the throttle pulled back as far as it would go. _Damn it._

"Renee was always a spitfire, stubborn too. Never thought I would ever get the chance to see one of her offspring, not after the way she booked it out of here all those years ago..."

Bella sighed heavily and turned back to the cowboy hat wearing man, unable to hold back her own temper..._yet again, _"Look dude, if you have something to say about my mom then freakin' say it, okay?! I don't wanna hear your bullshit reminiscing or whatever it is you're trying to do. I don't know you, don't care to. End of story."

The older man just grunted, and shook his head slightly, "Temper runs deep in the Lahote genes, I see. Your mother was a firecracker too, among other things."

Bella chose not to respond, literally biting her tongue to keep silent as the pump _finally _finished and she carefully put it back in it's place. She moved around to the drivers side, but the man calmly stepped closer, speaking before Bella could escape into the solitude of her car.

"Your mother, Renee, pissed off a lot of people girl. A lot of _powerful _people."

Bella stopped...her blood running cold for a split second, and turned back to the stranger, "Fuck off, old man. Ever hear the saying of the apple not falling too far from the tree? Yeah, that's me...I'm the apple."

He ignored her empty threat and took another step, "I was surprised to hear that she kept you and your brother...it's not customary for your kind to do that sort of thing.

"Excuse me?" Bella laughed humorlessly, "_My kind? _Look asshole—"

"I can sense a lot of your mother within you girl, and so I'm only gonna say this one good time because your father is a good man and he's one of my best friends...stay in your own business and don't rock any more waves than you and your brother already have. Got that?"

…"You fucking nut." Bella sneered then got into her car, her engine roaring too life cutting off whatever the man had shouted after her and she took off without looking twice. She had no idea what that old man was about but she shook it off quickly. Her mom had warned them of people like that...that they would be everywhere.

She had apologized for it time and time and time again over the phone and in person (the two times that they were actually allowed to see her).

As Bella drove out of the town and away from that creepy old dude, she began to relax a little more the empty two lane road, and all the green all around her made her feel free. The most free she's ever felt since leaving Texas. Isabella had just put on her favorite playlist starting with Drake when something bright caught her eye. And when she shifted her head to look, it was as if time had slowed down just for her.

"What the fuck!? Whoa!" she dropped her phone and slammed on her brakes when she saw a woman with long red hair running through the forest, around the trees from three very large wolves. Bella wasn't at one with nature and all that jazz but she knew that wolves should _not _be that big.

Bella caught hold of her steering wheel, controlling her car until it came to a complete stop. When she looked back, there was nothing there...her vision blurred before it corrected itself and Bella wasn't even sure if what she saw was even really there.

"What the hell was that..." Bella looked all around her but everything was all quiet and she had enough sense to stay in her car. Bella rubbed her eyes and put her car back in gear and kept going. "I seriously hate this town."

* * *

**Please forgive any grammar mistakes.**

**Peace!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own anything Twilight but my own ideas.**

* * *

It was around 5 in the morning and the Cullen household was fairly quiet with Emmett downstairs playing video games on the living room TV and occasionally yelling out some obscenity and Esme telling him to watch his mouth from the upstairs den where she and Carlisle were reading up on some new medical book or in Esme's case, a cookbook.

Just down the hall, Jasper was in the family library writing in one of his books he'd gotten during one of his visits to Italy that was made with genuine Italian leather. In their bedroom, his mate and wife Alice was tearing through their massive walk in closet looking for the 'perfect' first day of school outfit.

As usual, Rosalie was down in the garage tinkering with one of the many cars that the Cullen family had in their garage, quietly muttering to herself when she came across a bad part that needed replacing and Edward was in his room rearranging his classical CD collections. It was a typical night in the Cullen residence, the residence full of vampires that didn't need to sleep. It was considered a relaxing evening for them.

Or at least it would have been, because at closer glance—every single Vampire on the Cullen property were coiled tight with tension.

And it had everything to do with Chief Swan's kids coming to stay with him and the fact that Alice couldn't get a clear vision of the two people that had the Quileute tribe on edge since their arrival a few days ago. So on edge that one of the council members actually came into town for apparently no reason at all, or so it would have seemed.

But they had names, Isabella and Paul Lahote. It wasn't much but it was a start.

Esme, the only one of the Cullen family (and Edward by default) to have seen and actually met the two teenagers, couldn't recall anything weird from them or dangerous. They seemed like two perfectly normal teenagers who have gone through a trauma and were trying to make the best of their situation. Esme not once felt threatened in their presence.

_But the pressing question still remained..._

Why would two humans have such an impact on the pack? And Alice's visions? No one in the Cullen clan could quite put their finger on it yet, but they had more pressing matters to deal with than two mysterious humans coming into the already weird little town that was apparently the home to all that was supernatural.

They had a Vampire camping out in their neck of the woods for who knows how long and why and the vampires were ashamed that they didn't realize their intruder sooner. Thankfully Carlisle was able to convince the wolves of La Push that the redhead wasn't with them and allowed them to hunt her down.

Rosalie had commented on how much of a waste of time it was because they couldn't even catch her and she was pissed because the lingering smell of filthy wet dog was all over their side of the land.

_Presently..._

Alice was stressing over the absolutely perfect look for her family for their first week of school to distract herself from the fact the two new kids were somehow evading her abilities and it was beyond frustrating for the little vampire.

There was a gentle knock on the door, and Alice turned to find her mate standing there with a gentle smile on his face—she'd been so distracted with the clothes she hadn't smelled or heard him coming, "Maybe it's time to take a break?"

Alice sighed unnecessarily, "I know but I just can't stop thinking about the new kids...there's just so much about them that we don't know."

From the garage Rosalie scoffed, and Alice could practically hear her sister rolling her eyes, "What else do we need to know about them, Alice? Their mother is a psychotic murderer and they're probably weirdly traumatized. End of story. Let it go."

"Rosalie!" Esme said from the den she was sitting in, "That isn't nice and I would ask that you please attempt to show a little bit of sympathy."

"Rose is right," Edward chimed in, having finally stopped arranging his boring CD collection, and he could be heard moving downstairs to the living room, "It's bad enough that Esme hired them in her gym...we don't need to make anymore contact with them. Even if they are no danger, they are still humans...and humans are liabilities."

"And Alice's visions?" Jasper asked, wrapping his arm around his mates shoulders as they too made their way to the lower level of their home to join the rest of their family, "I believe that does warrant a little bit of an investigation just to be on the safe side since the wolves aren't keen on tellin' us much of anything on these two if there even _is _somethin'."

"An unnecessary risk." Edward frowned at Jasper and Alice but he didn't dare voice the rest of his comments when Esme and Carlisle came down behind the mated pair, "This shouldn't even be a discussion!"

"C'mon bro," Emmett turned off his game and got comfortable in the arm chair, turning it around to face his family that was now seated all around the living room, "Who knows they might be pretty cool, what's the big deal about talking to them?"

"You mean other than the fact that they're human?" Rosalie deadpanned, glaring at him as she closed the door loudly behind her, "Jasper said it himself, those fucking mutts aren't sharing what they know...and I don't see why we should get involved."

"She does have a point," Carlisle mused, and Edward saw the doubts crossing the man's mind and jumped at the advantage.

"See?!" Edward smirked at Alice who narrowed her eyes at him, "I say we put it to a vote. All of us in favor of minding our own business?" he and Rosalie raised their hands, the only two in the family and Edward was shocked and annoyed that Carlisle didn't raise his hand, "Carlisle?"

The patriarch sighed heavily, and smiled apologetically at his first son, "I apologize, son, but while I agree of staying from the conflict brewing...I find it wiser that we remain in the know at all times."

"I can't wait to meet these humans now," Emmett grinned, putting his hands behind his head, "I wonder if they play video games."

Alice chuckled, and winked at her mind reading brother, "Looks like I'm gonna be making two new friends this year." _asshole._

Edward growled at the pixie but quickly thought better of it when Jasper held Alice tighter to his side and his darkened eyes glared in Edward's direction in warning.

Rosalie shook her head, moving towards the stairs, "Befriend the spawns of a murderer is only going to end in disaster and I want no part of it, Alice."

"Of course not." Alice smiled sweetly at her sisters retreating back, making sure to keep playing a Britney Spears song over and over in her head, knowing that Edward was prying. It was something she's always done, but she had a feeling she'd have to take it up a notch soon.

* * *

_Elsewhere...outside of Forks..._

Victoria sighed softly, breaking down the last box and set it on the stack of dozens of other neatly broken down boxes that were stacked near the entrance of her living room. Buying a house wasn't Victoria's thing but it wasn't exactly for her...she was just house sitting. Though Victoria would really call this a house, it was a mansion outside of the town of Forks and well away from those damned dogs that chased after her when she tried to follow Isabella into the city.

It had been an oversight on Victoria's part, one that she would not be making again anytime soon or _ever. _That had been too close of a call and she was positive that Isabella had seen the entire thing. To the naked eye, she shouldn't have been able to and when Victoria relayed the message to Renee about the incident, the woman freaked out a little bit because it was too early she said.

Sooner than she had predicted. Paul didn't show signs of anything, but Bella, despite being the youngest, was always a little quicker than her brother.

Victoria didn't know how Renee was going to get out of the maximum security prison without causing such a scene but she was doing what her long time friend was asking her to do, preparing her home that was just 9 miles away from town, and keeping a closer eye on her kids until she arrived. For the past few hours, Victoria had been cleaning away the dust and removing things that didn't belong, making the home livable again.

It was going to be hard avoiding that damned coven and pack of wolves, and possibly worse when Renee gets out of prison (somehow)...but she's been in worse situations before. Victoria checked her watch, a simple Rolex, and sighed. Time flew, even for a vampire, when work was to be done. And despite her moving at vampire speed, the house was huge and there were certain modifications that needed updating.

Victoria ran upstairs to her bedroom for a shower and change clothing before going down to the garage and sliding into her all black Maserati and the engine came to life with a soft purr. Victoria eased down the driveway and waited for the gate to open slowly. She just hoped that her state of dress was at least appropriate for her new job.

* * *

_At the Swan residence..._

**beep...beep...beep...**

Paul jerked away, his forehead banging against the ceiling. He had been dreaming that none of this had been real; he and his sister coming to Forks to stay with their...with some guy named Charlie and his wife and her two kids. He had a dream that it was all bullshit and that he and Bella were still hanging out with their mom, laughing and trying to build sand balls. Sort of like snowballs...but made of sand instead.

But the annoying alarm blaring from his sisters phone and the sound of the rain hitting the roof was a cruel reminder.

"Fuck...Belle...Bella, man, turn that shit off already!"

"Fuck off..." was all he got back from his sister who was tucked beneath her comforter set and Paul sighed heavily, but to his relief and relief to his ears, the alarm was switched off. Though their moment of piece was ruined by loud banging on their bedroom door, scaring the shit out of both of them.

"Wake up you two! Time for school!" Sue called as she continued down the hallway.

"Ugh," Bella groaned loudly, rolling her eyes, "What kind of hellish school starts at 7 in the morning!? This place could barely be classified as a town..."

Paul pushed his covers aside and managed to weasel his way from the top bunk without bumping his head on the ceiling anymore and turned on their room light. "C'mon sis, up and at 'em." Paul was just as exhausted but the last thing he wanted was Charlie and Sue breathing down their necks than they already were—like they were their parents or something. It grated on Paul's nerves and the less he had to deal with it the better. Thankfully Bella took the hint and started to rise from her pile of unnecessary pillows and two heavy blankets. Paul quickly turned away, giving his sister some form of privacy and walked over to the desk to fiddle with his phone and turned on some music they both enjoyed.

"I hate sharing a room with you, and I hate this fuckin' house..." she mumbled sleepily, gathering her toilette bag and practically slamming the door open and Paul silently agreed...they were too grown to be sharing a room. He loved his sister, but he didn't want to deal with her morning grouch so close or sooner than he wanted. He also didn't like the idea of sharing a bathroom with 4 people he didn't very well.

Paul sat down on the edge of Bella's bed and picked up her phone, looking at her screen and smiling. "Damn mom, I miss you lady."

"Of course you'd be the one to miss a serial killer."

Paul's head snapped up and saw Leah standing in the doorway, fully dressed and sneering at him. Paul stood up and took a step forward, "Look, I don't know what your beef is but lay off talking about our mom, alright?!" he practically growled at her and Paul felt a deep sense of satisfaction settle in his soul when Leah blinked and took a step back away from him. "You two are a bunch of freaks that don't belong here. I bet you two helped her kill all those innocent people, didn't you?!"

"Even if we did...you wouldn't be around to tell anyone if you keep testing our patience, Leah." Paul chuckled, and Leah could've sworn his green eyes were a shade brighter for a split second but she wrote it off to the bright lighting in the room.

"I knew it!"

"Knew what?"

Leah nearly jumped out of her skin as Bella came up behind her, silent as a cat. Leah stepped further away from the Lahote twins, shaking her head, "Look, word of warning at school...you don't know me, and I don't know. Got it?"

"As if I would anyway." Bella rolled her eyes, and pushed past the girl to get into her room, and stood next to her brother, "Look Leah, I get it...we get it, this is your territory...your house...or duplex, whatever this is...it's yours. You're the Swan family and we aren't."

"And don't wanna be." Paul grumbled, crossing his arms across his bare chest.

"Right," Bella agreed with Paul, "We'll stay out of our way as long as you stay out of ours...and so far, we've been the only ones holding that end of the deal." Leah frowned at that accusation, "If it makes you feel any better...well...um...well, I don't really have anything to make you feel better." Bella shrugged apologetically, but her icy blue eyes were anything but contrite.

"You're both assholes." Leah sneered and continued on her original path downstairs to the kitchen where Sue was cooking oatmeal and toast.

"Ouch, that hurt. Think she meant that?"

"Shut up, Paul and hurry up. I'm not eating oatmeal...we're stopping at that Chick Fil A we saw in town yesterday."

"You mean the one going _opposite_ of school?"

"Yes. That one. And don't act like you weren't excited when we found it either."

When Paul and Bella were finally ready for school, the Swan family were already having breakfast downstairs. Paul didn't even bother saying hi to anyone, he just walked smooth past the kitchen and out the front door into the bleary morning with a side of drizzle and an extra helping of lightening and Isabella was right behind him.

Their ride to school was quiet filled with Pandora music, the Madonna station—it was one of Paul's guilty pleasures. (he blamed his mom). They hit up Chick Fil A and were pleasantly surprised to find that the line was just as long as they were used to back home.

"Well..." Paul sighed as he slouched further in his seat and pulling out his phone, "At least some things don't change."

Bella yawned lightly, and shrugged, cranking the heat up a little bit more as the rain started coming down a little harder, "Is it bad that I'm a _little _bit nervous?"

"For some small town middle of nowhere high school?" Paul scoffed, "A little bit, yeah."

"Hmm...does that mean that you are too?"

Paul looked into his sisters glacier blue eyes that were the polar opposite of his own forest green eyes, and they were so open when they were normally guarded that whatever smart ass comment he'd come up with had died in his throat.

"I'm...not nervous," he admitted after a few beats of patience silence, "I just don't like change is all. I'm irritated...angry..."

"Emotional." his twin supplied with a weary smile, and Paul returned it briefly. Thankfully the drive thru line moved up a car.

"Yeah, and not the good kind either..." he watched her turn down the heat for the thousandth time after she had just turned it up."What's goin' on with you and the a/c? Problems?"

"No...I...I just can't seem to get the right temp. One minute it's too damn hot...and I want the cold but then, I get...weird when it's cold, like...it makes my stomach unsettled, I don't know. I can't explain it, exactly."

Paul frowned, his sister was being weird—weirder than she normally was. It was still early in the morning and she was talking _way _too much before 9 AM. He reached across the console and pressed his palm against her forehead. And everything in a split second. Bella's forehead felt ice cold, colder than a corpse or a block of ice cold and Paul yanked his hand back so fast he actually slapped himself in the mouth. And Bella was staring at him with wide eyes, unsure if she wanted to laugh or drive his dramatic ass to the hospital.

"What the hell was that?" they asked each other at the same time. "What?!" "Stop that!" "Paul!" "Bella!"

"OKAY!" Bella all but shouted, holding up both of her hands and pressed her foot harder on the brake when she realized her car was inching forward slowly and the last thing she wanted to do was scratch her paint, "Seriously, Paul, what the fuck is wrong with you? What was that?"

"Wah..what...I—" Paul laughed but it was humorless and full of disbelief, "You didn't...Bella you didn't...Bella you're ice fucking cold! Feel your head!"

"What?"

"Feel it!"

Bella jumped slightly, and tentatively pressed her own hand to her forehead and if it was even possible...she gave Paul an even stranger look, "I don't get it? I feel fine?"

"No way, you're doing it wrong! Move!" he reached over again and shoved her hand out of the way to replace it with his own again, and his eyeballs nearly fell out of their sockets when he realized that his sister was right. She _did _feel fine.

Isabella slapped his hand away not so gently, rolling her eyes, "Fuck off, Paul. It's too early for your shitty pranks."

"No! I swear on Aunt Athenadora's grave! Bella, you...you didn't feel right."

Bella ignored him by turning up the music and Paul sighed heavily, _damn...she's mad at me now. _Paul knew what he felt was real but he decided that it would be wise to let his sister be for the time being and went back to his phone...and began googling medical symptoms.

* * *

**Hope the chapter was cool, dropped some hints and started moving things along hopefully. Will see more of Victoria too in the future. I'm not in high school anymore so let's hope I don't write it like college lol.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Srry about the wait. Enjoy**

* * *

Thankfully it had stopped raining by the time the Lahote twins arrived to their new high school and Paul didn't poke at his sister any further but he was definitely keeping a close eye on her. The Chick-Fil-A in Forks wasn't as great as the ones they were used to in Texas, but it was something. Definitely won't be making regular visits there though.

Paul tossed his wrapper in the bag with a heavy sigh, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, "We can try that donut shop tomorrow, yeah?"

"Most definitely." Bella agreed, munching bitterly on her waffle fries...her half eaten chicken sandwich was so disappointing she almost threw the whole day away. "Jeez, does everyone have to fuckin' stare?"

Paul looked around, eyes scanning the ground as his sister crept through the parking lot looking for a decent space, "The Demon is pretty loud and out there sis, it's sick as fuck. I'd stare too."

His sister scoffed as she hit reverse and backed into a spot that was directly in front of the entrance of the school. Mostly where the empty spots were, she figured the other kids wanted to be 'cool' or whatever and park further from the teachers. Bella, on the other hand, could care less. Front office meant cameras. And if she found so much as a _scratch _on her baby, it was game over for whoever did it. Teacher or student.

Bella cut the engine and immediately the deep rumbling off her car went silent except the occasional normal ticking here and there. Bella grabbed her backpack and forced herself out of her car, as did Paul. He threw up his hood immediately. Neither one them felt inclined to look at the other students, or even attempt to seem the friendly type. It was more than likely that most, if not all of them, knew exactly who they were—or rather who their mother is. It was a small town and their dear old dad was the Chief of police...of course people knew, and talked.

Paul reached the building first and held the door for his sister and he caught a glimpse of a silver Volvo a few spots from his sisters car. And this messy haired kid was staring at them intently and Paul sneered in his direction. "The fuck you lookin' at."

The hairs on the back of Paul's neck rose and he followed in after his sister. _This is gonna be an interesting year. As if I didn't already hate this dump._

* * *

"This schedule sucks," Paul all but whined when they finally reached their new lockers, "We only have pre-cal, English, study hall and gym together. How are we supposed to pass history?!"

"We can use google docs and keep track of our notes there..." Bella opened her locker after her third try with the combination and began stuffing her books in there. Books she would never see again until the end of the year when it was time to return them. "Just like old times."

"And what's with this bullshit map?" he shifted through the packet the lady at front desk had given to them, it was apart of their 'Welcome to Forks High' thing, or something like that. It was lame. "What is all of this?"

"The school is bigger than we expected I guess, but I don't think we'll need a map?" his sister agreed with a smirk.

Before Paul could respond to her, the first bell ring and it was shriller than either of them expected it to be. They were used to the soft hum, or maybe a teacher coming down the hallway yelling at them to get to class before they're late. Bella and Paul remained by their lockers, not moving an inch even as the rest of the students began filing into the building with their little cliques and chattering away.

More than a few them were staring at Bella and Paul, whispering about them no doubt. More than a few girls threw flirtatious smiles at Paul. The twins waited by their lockers, quietly meeting the eyes of anyone who wanted to look at them like they were a zoo exhibit or something. Eventually the crowd thinned out by the second warning bell sounded.

"See you in pre-cal sis?"

Bella nodded, and checked her schedule again—_biology, room 102._ _great way to start a Monday..._

* * *

Bella walked into her first period biology class a glorious ten minutes late. It wasn't that she was lost...for the first five minutes...she made a u-turn back to the vending machine that she spotted since her much anticipated breakfast sandwich turned out to be her first disappointment of the day.

The teacher, Mr. Banner, stopped whatever welcome to being seniors almost adulthood speech and stared at Bella as she stood at the door and let it close behind her quite loudly. She was well aware of all eyes in the classroom on her but she just smiled at her teacher who looked a little flustered immediately.

"Ahem, uh...you must be Isabella Swan?"

Bella rolled her eyes, "It's Lahote actually."

There were a few whispers, but Bella ignored them, "Right, o-of course...just uh have a seat in the back with Alice and Eric." if Bella didn't know any better, she'd guess that her biology teacher was nervous around her...and would probably be more nervous when he sees Paul later. It amused her.

The one named Alice raised her hand, waving almost a little too eagerly and Bella sighed under her breath. She tossed the candy bag in the trash and walked towards the back to the empty seat between this Alice and Eric. Mr. Banner went back to his speech and the boy, Eric, leaned over slightly with his hand held out, "Hi, I'm Eric Yorkie it's nice to meet you Isabella."

"Uh...Bella works fine," Bella looked between him and his outstretched hand but ultimately decided not to be rude—she wasn't looking for friends, but she also didn't want any enemies. So she shook his hand but as quickly as she could. "Nice meetin' you too. I guess."

"Wow," he laughed quietly, shaking his head, "I heard you from Texas but actually hearing the accent? That's wild! I guess Forks is a little different than what you're used to, huh?"

Bella glanced at Alice but the other senior was staring straight ahead with her head tilted slightly and seemingly listening to their teacher drone on and on with a slight smile on her face. Bella found it a little odd, but ignored it and turned her attentions back to Eric.

"Bit of an understatement...it's very, eh, _wet..._and a little chilly here."

"Not a fan of the cold, Bella?" a new high and lovely voice piped in just as quietly, and Bella noticed more than a few eyes darted in their direction in shock. She had guessed that a girl that looked like Alice was 'off limits', in a way. In a popular clique. A smaller part of her brain thought that she reminded her a lot of Esme...her boss over at the gym.

"Winters were a joke in Texas...so no. Not a huge fan of the extreme climate change."

"You'll get used to it eventually." Alice chuckled, looking at Bella—and it was the first time that Bella got a good look at the other girls eyes. They were..._different._ Very different. She's never seen dark yellow eyes like that before...it was weird, and Bella was close enough to Alice to conclude that those were her weird eyes and not contacts. But it was none of her business. "Are you and your brother settling in well? At least?"

Bella exhaled deeply, "Put it like this...I was ready to leave this shithole before my plane even left Texas."

Alice whistled lowly, eyebrows quirking and Eric blinked twice, "Damn."

* * *

Eric caught up to Bella at the end of class before she could completely disappear in the crowd, but he quickly let go of her arm when a tattooed brute came up behind her and his glare matched Bella's. It took Eric a split second to realize that this was Paul, Bella's brother. Despite him having green eyes and her blue, they were most definitely twins.

"This guy buggin' you, Belle?"

Eric quickly held up his hands, swallowing thickly but Bella rolled her eyes at her brothers typical pea-cocking macho ethics, "Paul, Eric...Eric, my twin..."

"Uh, right...nice to meet you man." Eric didn't dare offer to shake Paul's hand, he knew a couple of kids in school that had a few tattoos...but this guy was a walking Picasso, "I...I was just gonna invite Bella and-and you to sit with me and friends at lunch...if you want."

Bella smiled politely, "Sure, we'll think about it. Thanks..."

Eric nodded awkwardly and Paul and Bella quietly went looking for their pre-cal class. And that's how the rest of their day went, they stuck to themselves mostly and avoided both Leah, Seth and their pack of friends. By the time lunch rolled around, Bella was ready to call it quits and Paul had a pocket full of numbers from his future one night stands or broken heart fools as Bella liked to call them.

She and Paul weren't planning on sitting with Eric and his friends but they didn't exactly have a choice when Eric practically ambushed them the moment they left the lunch line. Bella and Paul followed the talkative senior to his lunch table and recognized a few of the students from their earlier classes but neither of them gave any of them too much thought.

"Oh no, Eric look out you have two murderers following you," the girl with the dark brown hair said with sarcastic worry as they were sitting down. The bottle blonde sitting next to her laughed, a bad nasally type of laugh.

"Murderer or not, that Challenger is sick! Names Tyler."

"And I'm Mike," he smirked at Bella, winking at her, "And that's Ben. And that's Jessica, Lauren and Angela."

"So, Paul man..what year is it, dude?"

"It ain't mine, it's _hers." _Paul scoffed, and tilted his head towards his sister stuffing his mouth with the warm somewhat overcooked turkey burger.

Jessica scoffed, "Did you steal it from some guy you killed or something?"

Bella rolled her eyes, but before she could a lot of the chatter inside of the cafeteria stopped and Paul turned around in his seat and mumbled _holy shit _which prompted his sister to look as well. Jessica scoffed behind them as she ate a fry, "I see you've noticed the Cullens."

"Who?" Paul asked, eyes still glued to the students that walked into the cafeteria but his sister was over it in a second and back to eating her food, "Who's the barbie?"

"You like _her?!"_ Jessica glared at Paul, but he ignored her.

"That's Rosalie Hale," Lauren provided with a sneer, also ignoring Jessica, glaring in the blondes direction, "Grade A _**bitch**_, she turns down everyone, even you pretty boy." Bella raised her eyebrow at that but said nothing, "Short one behind her is Alice, she's psychotic and dates the one with the curly blonde hair Jasper Hale. The big one, that's Emmett—I think he's a little slow and the last one, with the sex hair? Mmm, that's Edward. He's the only normal one."

Jessica made a clicking noise with her tongue, rolling her eyes. "I wouldn't try it if I were you, _Isabella, _he's too good for anyone here."

"I'd break him in half. Pass."

"Whatever. But if you ask me they're a bunch of freaks. I think you two would fit right in with them."

"Jessica!" Angela hissed at her angrily, fed up with her friends attitude towards the Lahote twins, "Will you cut it out already?!"

Bella immediately decided that she liked Angela, a lot. Paul finally turned around in his seat but he kept shooting glances over at the Cullens table, more specifically at Rosalie Hale and he could give a damn that she was glaring venomously in his direction. It was fuckin' hot.

"Yeah, Jess," Mike piped in, "Lay off it already. Paul and Bella are cool. So, uh, this weekend...we're all heading down to La Push to surf and hangout at the beach before it gets too cold. You guys wanna come with?" even though he was asking both of them, he had googly eyes for Bella—not that she was entertaining that mess at all.

"Sorry man, not this time," Paul answered, leaning back in his chair and laying his arm on the back of Bella's chair, "We start our new jobs this weekend and we're heading to Seattle to pick up my truck and our dirt bikes."

Tyler perked up a little bit, as did Eric, "You both ride dirt bikes?"

"Yep, our mom taught us when we were like...10 or 11...we used to ride in Texas, but we had to drive to state parks there...here, we actually live in one." Bella snorted, "You guys ride?"

"Yeah a little bit," Mike said quickly.

"No you don't," Jessica glared at him, then at Bella who just smiled sweetly at her, "Where's this new job of yours? Taking up your mothers mantle?"

"Olympic Fitness." Paul answered, jaw clenching but he didn't want to say anything to Jessica. He didn't want her bringing up their hook up—especially since she's been blowing up his phone. But Bella didn't have any problem holding back towards Jessica.

"The next time you mention our mom, you'll regret it I promise."

"Is that a threat, bitch?"

"Always."

The silence at the table was tense (and over at the Cullens table as well), Jessica and Bella were locked into a stare off...and Jessica broke the stare first, shivering but before anyone could even move or say anything, the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. Everyone began packing their things quietly but Bella didn't move an inch, continuing to glare at Jessica who was actively avoiding her gaze and trying to get away as quickly as possible.

It was only when Bella felt a warm hand on her forearm that she blinked and looked at Angela, and smiled apologetically—surprising herself really, but there was something about Angela that brought out Bella's niceness, "I didn't mean to snap but that girl is something else."

"She is, don't let her get to you, but if it's any consolation...no one really thinks you guys are killers or believe what the news said about your mom. I mean they still think she's a criminal...but not what they say she is."

_But it's all true..._ "A little bit...thank you."

Angela smiled, and squeezed Bella's arm before gathering her things and leaving. Bella looked at her brother with a heavy sigh but neither of them said a word. They both just knew...this was going to be a rough year. They got their stuff and dragged their feet to their English class.

* * *

**Just a little filler I think...next chapter is half way done already, more cullen/lahote interaction...some more supernatural things will be happening too. thanks!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry bout that wait!**

* * *

It's been three weeks since school started and so far everything was going well—not the greatest but it was more than they could've asked for. They worked after school and sometimes on the weekends but no long shifts because Mrs. Cullen was pretty nice like that. She never kept them after five on the weekends. Living with Charlie and his family was still lame, give or take, but he didn't really bother them too much and neither did Sue.

Leah still disliked them greatly, but she was forced to hang out with them because Seth loved them much to her dismay and Leah didn't want to leave her baby brother alone with the Lahote twins and have Seth come back smart mouthed, vile and corrupted.

Presently Bella was standing next to Paul's all white, lifted 4x4 off road truck (Charlie wasn't too happy to see it) waiting for him to crash and burn with Rosalie Hale like he did every three days. It was both sad and amusing for Bella to watch. She's never really seen Paul so enamored with a girl before, not like this—and what was even more surprising was that she couldn't tell if he was so determined because Rosalie would be his ultimate score or if her brother was truly interested.

He seemed so excited that Rosalie said two words to him on Monday afternoon, and he believed he was wearing her down. He wouldn't tell Bella what she said but she could likely guess. Amusing.

"Hi Bella!"

Bella felt Alice coming before she even saw her, she wasn't sure how she knew but she just did—Alice was the only one of the Cullen family to really talk to her and Paul—the others seemed uninterested or in Edward and Rosalie's case...glared their pale asses off.

"Hey, Alice. What's up?"

"I didn't scare you, did I?"

"Not a chance." Bella snickered, glancing down at Alice to see if she was pouting—she was—and snickered some more before her eyes bounced back to Paul and Rosalie standing by the outside lunch tables near the gym. It was Paul doing most of the talking but it was saying something that Rosalie hadn't walked away from him. Yet.

Alice nodded towards the dirt bikes on the back of Paul's truck, "Are you and Paul going dirt biking all weekend?"

"Yep. It's a three day weekend, and your mom gave us the weekend off. We're still getting to know the land, but we've marked a few spots for some overnight stays."

"Sounds fun, be careful out there though please...there are big predators out there."

Bella nodded, "Thanks but don't worry Alice, we'll be perfectly fine. So what about you guys? Plans?"

"Oh, nothing special. Maybe do some camping ourselves with our cousins who will be visiting for the week. Who knows, we might run into each other out there."

"Maybe. So...what's up with my brother and your sister?"

Alice smirked, finally looking at the two across the courtyard, "Don't worry...she likes him a lot."

Bella raised an eyebrow when Rosalie's head snapped in their direction before turning her attention back to Paul, "Really? I can't really read her non-expressions yet."

There was a booming laugh somewhere behind them, overpowering Alice's giggle, "She's giving Paul a hard time because she knows he's a player. Plus he had sex with Jessica. He lost a lot of brownie points for that one."

Bella shrugged, tightening the draw strings of her hoodie when a particularly sharp breeze came through, "We all make mistakes."

"Hey, Bella, we're friends yes?"

"Hmm...depends. What do you want, pixie?"

Alice grinned softly, "Let's exchange numbers and before you say no this time! Listen," Alice cut in before Bella could even open her mouth, "I just want to be sure that you and Paul will be okay out there."

"We probably won't have any cell reception, Alice."

"I don't care...please?"

Bella didn't move or speak for several seconds and it was killing Alice not being able to see the humans thought process in terms of what decision she was leaning towards the most but thankfully before Alice could actually and probably literally combust with anxiety—Bella pulled out her iPhone and handed it over to the shorter girl.

Alice snatched it before Bella could change her mind, "Thank you! Here...was that so hard?"

"Excruciatingly hard, Alice. You're persistent, do you know that?"

"Oh yes, I'm very much aware...soon, you and I will go on that shopping trip you refuse to talk about. We have each others number. We're friends now. It's official."

"Technically, Alice...I have your number, you don't—"

"I sent myself a text. Have fun on your trip Bella! I'll be in touch!" Alice interrupted smugly as she practically danced away across the parking lot back to where her boyfriend and her two brothers waited.

"Damn pixie." Bella mumbled under her breath, and she could've sworn she heard familiar giggling somewhere.

* * *

"So...she gave me her number."

Bella decided to play dumb as she continued to look out of the window at the passing scenery, "Who?"

Paul side eyed her, "Rosalie, keep up. She gave me her number."

"And this is different from any other chick giving you their number...how? Exactly? Besides you having to beg her for it?"

"Please," Paul scoffed, "Paul Lahote does not beg. She wants me, I could see it in her eyes...she was just testing me."

"You slept with Jessica Stanley, Paul. There wasn't much to test as far as dignity goes."

"Are you gonna let me live that down?!" he grouched, reaching over and roughly pushing her arm off of the middle console and his frown deepened when she laughed even harder, "Look, are you gonna help me plan this stupid date or what?!"

Bella couldn't help as her laugh turned into a slight cackle at her brothers expense, angry Paul was so cute—like a cute little angry kitten.

"Bella! Dude, come on!"

"Okay, okay...don't get your panties in a twist, I thought you two were just hooking up. You're taking this chick on a date? Since when do you date, Paul?"

He rolled his eyes and sighed loudly, "Since now... Rosalie said I have to earn her time, whatever that means, so I'm taking her on a date."

Bella blinked, almost laughing again—wow...this Rosalie chick is good. Smarter than the other ones. "Whatever you do, don't be a cheap ass and take her to Port Angeles."

"What? What's wrong with Port Angeles? It's not that far from town and there are some cool shit to do there...and a beach?"

Bella shrugged, holding up her hands like 'hey', "Who knows, maybe she'll appreciate simple...eventually, but Paul. It's obvious that you're a hoe...and I'm your sister telling you this. I think Rosalie wants to see you put in sweat and effort—maybe a little blood too—for her time before she lets you get away with simple shit. Just saying."

Paul's free hand combed through his inky black hair, "Yeah...you might be right. Damn, women are high maintenance."

* * *

Alice was anxiously bouncing on her toes waiting for her cousins arrival. They were five minutes away and five minutes for a vampire wasn't very long at all, more like seconds really. But right now for Alice, it felt like an eternity! She, Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper had their hiking gear packed and loaded in the back of Emmett's Jeep. The rest of her family were opting to stay and enjoy their three day weekend at home.

Thankfully, Alice had managed to convince Kate and Irina to join them on their camping slash hunting trip. It was also the perfect opportunity for Alice to test her theory. And for Alice to think freely without worrying about her brother Edward snooping around in her head and blowing a fuse.

For the past few weeks since school started, Alice and Esme were the only two that have had extensive communications with the Lahote twins...Alice didn't count Rosalie. She was mated to Paul, it was inevitable that they'd communicate no matter how much she'd like to deny it. Alice pieced it together first, she panicked less when she realized why Rosalie was so faint in her visions. It was because of Paul...and whatever that he was. Alice was forty percent certain that neither of them were human.

Humans couldn't avoid her visions. And when the Denali's decided to come down...Alice noticed that Kate was very faint as well now. It's never been like that before. So Alice was more than anxious to prove herself right...or wrong. Mostly right though. The only other person who knew of her wild theories was Esme.

The woman was smitten with Paul and Bella, rough around the edges and all. And she always cooked for them and brought them food when they worked at her gym. It was sweet. Esme was truly a mother through and through.

Alice was out of the back door and standing on the back porch when Tanya broke through the treeline into their backyard first with a small yet graceful smile before the rest of her coven appeared.

"Hello dear cousins!" Carlisle greeted with a wide smile as he followed Alice outside, "It's been too long since we've all visited one another. Please, come in!"

Alice bit back a groan, she was beyond ready to go and find Bella and Paul. And she knew that Rosalie was even more anxious and impatient to leave as well—and she wouldn't hesitate to leave without them either.

Thankfully, before Alice could say a word, or worse—Rosalie, Kate Denali rolled her eyes with a loud huff. "No offense, Carlisle, but we didn't—"

"We'd love to, Carlisle." Tanya nudged Kate in the ribs none too gently, making the other vampire grunt, "Though I believe we should spare the others, yes?"

"Of course," Carlisle cleared his throat before turning to his 'children, "Be aware of the treaty line."

"Yeah, yeah," Emmett threw on his backpack and jumped over the back porch rail, and landing two stories perfectly. "Pretty sure we won't run into the puppies anytime soon, we're going towards the mountains! Right short stack?"

Alice glared at the nickname but nodded anyway, much to the others' amusement. Kate and Irina followed them away from the Cullen household with Rosalie leading the way.

Meanwhile...at least a hundred and eighty miles away from town...

Bella was laughing her ass off as she wiggled from beneath her own fallen dirt bike. They had been racing through the forest, tearing up the terrain and talking shit to each other through their Bluetooth linked helmets. They were both going so fast, too fast—especially in uncharted territory and both of them nearly ended up in the mud pit with ruined bikes.

Thankfully, Bella managed to stop in time but her brother did not. He would've lost his bike too had there not been a log in the ground stopping it, but not him. Now Paul was covered head to toe with mud and he was pissed.

"Shut up Bella! It's not funny!"

"It is!" Bella snickered, pushing up her visor as she peered down at him over the edge, "So, I guess this means I win right?"

"Bella! Seriously, help me out of this shit!" Paul screeched, trying but failing to climb back up himself. The pits walls were too slick. "A serial killer could've made this, hurry up!"

"Not until you say I won." Bella smirked, knowing that she was being extremely petty but it made up for all the times Paul did this exact same thing to her. Bella heard something behind her and she looked over her shoulder, nearly having to roll over onto her back because she still had on her full face helmet. She didn't see anything.

"What is it?" Bella didn't answer him, instead she got to her feet and moved out of his sight and Paul panicked, "Bella!? Is that the killer?!...Bella?!"

Paul swore when she didn't answer him, both scared and frustrated for both his sisters health and her pettiness even though he knew he had it coming for a while. He was also disappointed that this could be his final hours and he would never see Rosalie—

He jumped back when something long and green dropped in front of him, it looked like a tree vine. He looked up and saw his sister smiling down at him, "It's tied to a tree...I don't know how sturdy it is, so hurry up."

She walked away and Paul got to climbing.

* * *

Paul and Bella were back at their camp almost an hour later with their dirt bikes parked a little ways away from the small creek they came across, with both front wheels locked together with a heavy chain. The chance of someone coming across their little spot in the middle of the Olympic Forest was highly unlikely but their mother taught them to always be prepared for anything no matter what. Paul had to wash himself off in the creek, away from camp of course, and while he was doing that Bella was getting their lunch heated up.

She had a box of matches with her that made starting the fire easy. She was playing around on her phone—since the reception was pretty much non-existent Bella was just scrolling through old pictures and reminiscing.

She paused, looking around briefly—feeling as if she were being watched but she knew that was impossible. They were the only ones this far out from the park office. She figured it was an animal or something.

Bella sat up a little, and continued to scan around their little camp area, wondering if she was just being paranoid.

Bella yelped embarrassingly loud when something touched her arm and she nearly jumped a foot in the air. It was a damn twig and Paul's annoying laugh made Bella groan and roll her eyes...she should've known.

"Ha! Gotcha good, didn't I? Karma is a bitch, sis."

Bella smirked and threw a pebble at Paul, "You look cleaner...still gutter trash though."

"Oh ha ha," Paul chuckled, packing away his dirty clothes in a sealed bag so that it wouldn't mess up all of his other clothes and gear. "Lunch ready?"

"Just about." Bella answered but she was still a little distracted—she still felt as if someone or something was watching them, "Paul...ever get that feeling that you're being watched?"

Paul shook his head, still focused on his own tasks, "Sometimes, figured it was the feds or something. Way out here though, could just be a dumb animal."

Bella rolled her eyes at his answer, but didn't offer any further comment. She scanned the woods surrounding their little camping area but the faint smell of burning meat called for her immediate attention. Maybe her brother was right, it was probably just a curious animal. Wouldn't be the first time.

* * *

**Thank you all for the kind words!**

**-Sith**


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